"HUMMM!!!"
The girl opened her five fingers and made a subtle clenching motion.
"BANG!!"
A dull, heavy roar resonated from beneath the ground.
The Doomstalker on the left was just adjusting its stance to line up a shot.
Suddenly, eerie green energy circuits lit up across a blackstone floor tile beneath its feet—a section roughly five meters on each side.
Without warning, the floor tile buckled sharply upward.
Instead of popping straight up, it struck diagonally at a vicious forty-five-degree angle.
Driven by the terrifying torque of the underground Canoptek transmission systems, the multi-ton slab of blackstone smashed directly into the inside of the Doomstalker's knee joint.
The impact carried brutal force.
CRACK!
The Doomstalker's reverse-jointed leg instantly snapped out of alignment.
Its colossal frame lost balance, pitching uncontrollably to the right.
As luck would have it...
Right beside it stood the second Doomstalker, its heavy cannon fully charged and primed to fire.
CLANG!
The two multi-ton war machines collided in a violent crash.
The falling frame of the left machine crushed straight down onto the right machine's upper turret.
The massive impact forced the second machine's barrel down, pinning its muzzle directly against the torso plating of the fallen unit.
At that exact microsecond, the fire-control countdown reached zero.
"BZZZ—BOOM!!!"
A thick beam of green light erupted at point-blank range!
Pure zero-distance punishment!
There was no suspense.
The targeted Doomstalker's upper torso vanished in an instant.
The stream of Gauss energy dismantled its living metal armor, stripping away atoms until nothing remained but a cloud of glowing green particles.
Its two remaining long legs twitched twice in place before collapsing into a heap.
"..."
Mid-sprint, Körber and his vanguard squad heard the explosion and instinctively glanced back over their shoulders.
Everyone froze mid-stride, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
What had they just witnessed?
A BOSS-level creature that seemed invincible—one that couldn't even be scratched by heavy weaponry—was gone just like that??
In Necron tomb structures, the architecture isn't inanimate.
Every slab of blackstone, every massive pillar, forms part of a sleeping, giant Canoptek construct network.
They obey the commands of Crypteks, responding to matching control protocols.
The girl clearly possessed authority equivalent to a Cryptek.
She didn't need to exert raw force—she simply issued a command to the floor tile: "Rise."
And the floor obeyed.
Simple, brutal, and completely unreasonable.
CLACK—CLACK-CLACK—
The surviving Doomstalker pushed off the wreckage piled on top of it.
Though it hadn't been destroyed, it was heavily damaged.
The point-blank blast had crippled its servo systems, rendering its movements stiff, erratic, and glitchy.
It struggled to regain its footing, lifting its barrel once more to lock onto the group ahead.
Vita felt the girl on his shoulder shift.
She raised her hand again.
This time, she didn't point at the ground. Instead, she swept her hand horizontally to the side.
"HUMMM—"
A strange wave swept across the hall.
Immediately, the loot-filled sacks slung over the vanguards' shoulders began to vibrate violently.
"Whoa?! Hey?!"
Buck let out a startled yell, using both hands to pin down the bag on his back.
His bonus was moving!
His down payment for a house was trying to escape!
Stop!
Don't move, damn it!
The contents inside the bag were thrashing violently to break free. The sheer pull nearly yanked him off his feet, making him stumble back a couple of steps.
The other soldiers fared no better.
They hadn't even been this panicked when facing the Doomstalker's main gun. Now, every single one of them was holding onto their bags for dear life, engaged in a desperate tug-of-war against an invisible force.
"No! You can't take it!"
"This is mine!"
The scene devolved into absolute chaos.
The girl's hand froze mid-air.
She turned her head, looking at these human mercenary fools who valued money over their lives.
And then...
For the first time, a change appeared on her ice-cold, expressionless face.
Her brow furrowed slightly, and a flash of clear displeasure flickered across her green pupils.
Her small mouth even formed a slight pout.
She was annoyed.
She was silently expressing her irritation toward these soldiers in her own way.
I just saved your lives, what's wrong with borrowing a few of your tools?!
Körber looked at the Doomstalker that was recharging its main cannon, then glanced back at the thoroughly annoyed girl.
In that split second, his brain reached a complex conclusion he couldn't quite explain to himself.
Could it be... she wanted to use their salvage?
Körber admitted he was taking a gamble.
Though the situation was chaotic, his gut told him his guess was right—probably?
Besides, judging by her confidence, she clearly had the means to take down that giant monstrosity.
"Let go!" Körber shouted over the comms channel.
"Everyone let go!"
"But Cap—"
"Let go! That's an order!"
Reluctant as they were, the soldiers loosened their grip.
ZIP!
All the magnetic storage bags popped open simultaneously.
Dozens of black, cylindrical metal objects flew out of the bags. They were Gauss generators salvaged from the laboratory test benches earlier.
These weren't finished weapons—they lacked stocks, sights, and even triggers.
They were stripped, bare core components dragging severed cables behind them.
Yet under the girl's control, these twenty-plus generators hovered in mid-air.
They rapidly aligned into a precise matrix array, every emitter nozzle aiming dead at the glitching Doomstalker.
"BZZZ—"
A green glare flared up.
Twenty Gauss beams fired in unison, accompanied by the harsh sizzle of matter being forcefully disassembled.
The moment the rays made contact with the multi-ton Doomstalker, its heavy armor plating began to dissolve.
Metal crumbled into atoms; atoms scattered into dust.
Starting from its chest, a massive void expanded rapidly outward.
In under two seconds...
The massive war machine vanished.
Only two severed legs remained standing on the ground, their clean-cut edges smooth as a mirror and trailing wisps of green smoke.
Dead silence fell over the hall.
Every soldier stood with their mouth agape, staring at the unnatural scene before them.
That... that was it?
Was this the true power of focused Gauss fire?
Isn't this way too absurd?!
Yet, an even more absurd moment followed.
With the battle over, the girl gave a light flick of her wrist. The floating Gauss generators powered down.
They spun gracefully in mid-air, then lined up in single file, zipping back into their respective bags like guided homing devices.
Buck reached back to feel his heavy pack, a completely blank look on his face.
"They... they return the stuff afterward?"
Isn't this service attitude a bit too good?!
Not only did she help clear the mob, but she even packed up their gear when she was done?!
This girl is a true keeper!
"HUMMM!!"
Right then, the space up ahead suddenly warped and twisted.
The gravitational wave pulse from the thermal base station had finally arrived.
A pitch-black spatial rift tore open in front of the group, revealing the exit back to the real world.
Körber snapped back to reality and yanked up Vita, who was still standing there dazed.
"Move!"
"Stop daydreaming! Double time out of here!"
This place was far too freaky—staying any longer would give him a heart attack!
Shouldering their reclaimed bags of loot and hauling the girl like a prized treasure, the crew scrambled into the rift, fighting to be the first ones through.